Bass on the 1, Clap on 2: KiNK is working through the occult science numerology of dance music on a wide-ranging EP that’s both worthy of devotional study and an irresistible force when it encounters some booty that must be moved. This 12″ and digital EP on Sofia has been in my head since I first heard it in early December and I’m still trying to sort it out.

“Disco Spectrum” is a sonic manifesto to the koan that Robert Hood once dropped on me — the knowledge that after decades of gritty, grimy, artsy or experimental adventures in sound, eventually you come to understand that everything truly is based on a disco groove. KiNK sees it through a prism, a disco spectrum, with a melodic but insolent acid line burrowing like a tick inside a dazzling disco suit from Prom Night 1978.

On “Turbo,” Robert Armani’s “Circus Bells” gets a shave and meets Dance Mania’s ghetto house future — yet evokes something like a Hot Mix 5 DJ getting fresh with the pitch control and pushing a Kano instrumental to a speed at which it was never meant to be played.

“Clap On 2” starts with a slinky groove mired in the mud and then turns some innocuous dial labeled “MINDFUCKERY” up into the red zone. And “Almond Break” — I think you’re better off playing this one on your own for the first time and seeing whether you grimace or smile because it feels like spoilers to walk someone through it before they get to hear it themselves.

KiNK: Clap On 2 EP (Sofia / 12″ Vinyl / Digital / December 2021)
1. KiNK: Disco Spectrum (05:51)
2. KiNK: Turbo (07:43)
3. KiNK: Clap On 2 (06:15)
4. KiNK: Almond Break (06:01)

⚪️ Disclosure Statement: This record was not submitted as a promo.

This was originally published in House Music Is Church: 5 Mag Issue #195 with Rahsaan Patterson, Kaspar and more. Support 5 Mag by becoming a member for as little as $1 per issue and get every issue in your inbox right away!